Ron Howard was good as Opie…

…and should have stayed that way. Too bad he has to be destructive in his later life.

Ron Howard Filming another Dan Brown Novel

Rome, Jun. 10, 2008 (www.CWNews.com) – Actor Tom Hanks is in Rome for the filming of Angels and Demons, a film adaptation of the book by Dan Brown.

Director Ron Howard is working on the film version of Brown's novel, following up on his previous cinematic rendition of another novel by the same author, The Da Vinci Code. Scenes are already being staged around the Pantheon in Rome.

The production of Angels and Demons will cost more than $100 million. The film is due to make its appearance in theaters next summer.

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Bravo to Rome!

Rome, Jun. 16, 2008 (CWNews.com) – The Vatican and the Rome diocese have refused to grant permission for on-site filming of Angels and Demons, the movie version of Dan Brown's novel.

Director Ron Howard had hoped to film scenes from the movie in two Roman churches, Santa Maria del Popolo and Santa Maria della Vittoria. But his crew was refused permission.

"We often open our churches to film productions," explained Father Marco Fibbi; "but not to fictional fims that offend religious sentiment." He told reporters in Rome that the decision was not a difficult one in this case. "The name 'Dan Brown' was enough," he said. Brown is the author of The Da Vinci Code, a book roundly condemned by the Vatican for its promotion of various anti-Catholic conspiracy theories. The scenes of Angels and Demons that were originally to be filmed in Roman churches will now be created in movie studios.

Well considering that the Da Vinci Code was a critical bomb and called by even fans of the stupid book as boring, maybe this is good news. We don’t want this junk directed by a capable director and considering the Da Vince Code and The Grinch who stole Christmas, he is not that good a director.

The Golden Compass bombed because it was not good filmmaking so maybe we can hope for the same.

Didn’t The Da Vinci Code still make huge money at the box office? Honestly I thought the movie was kinda entertaining. I didn’t like it however because it led to scandal and people actually believing it was true.